


Is a Pig's Tail Pork?: The Letters of John and Ina Martian [1937-1938]

by wonderfulmax90



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-07-31 09:50:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20113159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wonderfulmax90/pseuds/wonderfulmax90
Summary: First compiled in 2003, the letters of John Troyer and Ina Martian sparked a newfound love for them in Faith Wyse, my grandmother. Their letters depict a love before they started their own church and a family that lead to me.





	1. Preface

My grandmother had printed out these letters and gave them to her family as intended. My house currently houses two copies of these letters. I am typing this up in hopes of binding this up before my grandmother dies. I would love to see her face as I hand her this book.   
I am lovingly sharing this book to the internet as well. As my grandmother stated, the letters of my great-grandmother and great-grandfather contribute to church history in both Illinois and Ohio. It would be great if even one person recognizes these names from their church then I would be happy. Their legacy has continued and for that I would be forever grateful.   
If you don’t recognize these names then I hope you enjoy the love story and history behind the stories if you’re into that kind of thing. It seems a little girly, I know but doesn’t everyone like a good love story regardless of gender?   
I am currently typing this out as I do not want to have my grandmother become suspicious of my actions. As such, I ask you to not try to contact her or any of her siblings in an attempt to keep this secret from her until I am done with this. As such, any pictures mentioned from these letters and journal will not be included in this until much later as asking for the pictures will be a lot less suspicious then asking for the whole document.  
Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read the letters from my great-grandmother and great-grandfather.  
Maxwell Andrew Hudson


	2. Preface II

Mother gave me the letters between her and Dad so that I could go through them and share them with the family. I decided to type them as I opened them in order to save tome. In an effort to show them as close to their original writing as possible, I did not make grammatical and spelling corrections.  
It is important for the reader to know that John’s first language was Pennsylvania Dutch: this will account for some of his spellings. He was schooled from grade 1-8 in a country school with many Amish children taught by his uncle Clarence Zeurcher. He went to Berlin for the ninth grade, and that ended his formal education.  
Ina graduated from Hopedale High School where she shared the highest honors with her cousin Gladys.  
John and Ina met at Goshen College in a special Bible term of six weeks in January and February of 1937. Ina’s Journal at the beginning gives a picture of her days and some of her times together. Their letters follow that term.  
It is interesting to note that their interest in Sunday schools at this time, for they continued that work and established a Sunday school at Dillon in Illinois which grew into a church and which continues to this day.  
Because they discuss their church prices and their interests and note many of the leaders in the Sunday school movement, their letters become a contribution to church history in both Illinois and Ohio.  
As I found the letters so interesting, I decided to add other writings from their own lives and those of their children and parents in order to fill out a history for their descendants.  
Faith Troyer Wyse


	3. Introduction

Almost 60 years of age myself, it has been an interesting journey to travel through the letters of my parents before they married. The main thing that stuck with me is that although I know I have met most of the people mentions, and have known some quite well, I never thought of them as young friends of my parents. When they were still young and I knew them, I perceived them as old, of course. And then as a teenager, I heard stories but perhaps they were quaint. The didn't sink in as they do now.

I have been to sanford and Evalina's house many times. I knew Sanford was my father's cousin; but for the first time it took new meaning as I saw them as young cousins here. The clearest memory I have is of Evalina and Mother discussing bathing suits-and giggling a bit! Evalina had found one with a skirt and was planning to wear it. I would guess I was seven or nine.

What I remember about mom's sisters is that we had to clean the house before they came to visit-even wash the baseboards, and I hated tha. I didn't have any idea of what they meant to each other or how they visited back and forth and what friends they had been when they were my age. They gave us nice presents and nice clothes handed down from their daughters. They were excellent cooks. Aunt Irma had the most beautiful Christmas Tree I had ever seen. We didn't see them often, though when we moved away from the country square because of Mom and Dad's interest in mission Sunday schools.

I remember bi-annual trips to Holmes County, starting off before daylight, finally knowing we were getting close when dad whooped down a hill and made our stomachs lurch. We would sit on Grandma's porch in town and watch the buggies go past. I was such a different world. We had many cousins we enjoyed.

It was a dream of my parents that their children attend college as they had been unable to do. Now I understand why the Goshen College we attended was such a disappointment to them. It was such a rich place for them-a place of meeting the leaders in the Sunday school movement and studying the Bible in ways they had never known. They assumed, a generation later, that their children would find this same excitement. However, their children did not go to school: they went to college, and they went to college in order to get a college degree tha would lead them to a profession. Times had changed.

What my parents failed to grasp was that just as they wanted to escape "Mennonitism," their children did also. The changes they had witnessed, and in fact helped to bring about, were so great that they had no idea that their children would still find "Mennonitism" to be a problem.

I am writing the now because two people fell in love and then created me. I am delighted that my mother gave me the letters to share with others. I hope hay mu children and grandchildren will enjoy them as well. They can add the many letters that Denton and I wrote so long ago. Perhaps my brothers will have letters to add and pass down to their children.

We are the descendants of the descendants of the descendants. Before the mennonites, our ancestors were Catholic [Menno Simons was a priest]. Before they were Catholic, they were Jews and Gentiles whole we know from the Old and New Testaments. {I remember being so disheartened when my father told me we were Gentiles, for I knew that the Jews were God's chosen people.} They were perhaps of the pagan German religions as many of the Amish customs date back to medieval German customs. We are each unique but we were so much alike.

We strive so hard to leave the nest; but that we often forget is that those before us strove as well. Where we are is a result of where we have been. It isn't essential to know that, but it is helpful, and it can be richly rewarding to ponder our pasts as out futures get shorter!! I find pleasure in illuminating a bit of that history to the dependents who will have never met an Amishman and never stepped foot inside a Mennonite church.

I dedicate this work to my brothers and sister, my children and grandchildren, my nieces and nephews and their children.


End file.
